BlizzCon 2026's schedule, venue and viewership guide locked Sep 1 on Blizzard's news hub and on the Camelot Chronicle's BlizzCon 2026 Guide. Two days, one venue, one free stream that matters for Classic.
Dates and venue
- Event: BlizzCon 2026, Anaheim Convention Center (800 W Katella Ave, Anaheim, CA 92802)
- Dates: Saturday, September 12 — Sunday, September 13, 2026
- Badge pickup & on-site registration: Starts Friday, September 11, 2026
- Official hub: the BlizzCon portal (search BlizzCon 2026) — same place the programming schedule, viewership guide and floor map were posted Sep 1
Free stream — what you can watch without a badge
The Opening Ceremony and the main-stage developer panels will be available via free official livestreams on Blizzard's channels (YouTube and Twitch). The ceremony traditionally opens around 11 AM Pacific on Saturday. The full programming schedule, viewership guide and floor map dropped Sep 1 alongside the venue confirm — use the viewership guide if you are picking a co-stream for Classic react with chat, or the floor map if you are on site.
For Classic, the watch guide we published earlier this week still holds: the Classic future reveal — the Project Camelot thread we track at build 69638 on Sep 1 — is expected on the main stage, not in a hallway. If you are not in Anaheim, the free stream is the only stream that matters.
What is on the floor and on the stage
Blizzard's Sep 1 posts list the same lineup the Chronicle's guide does:
- World of Warcraft: deep dives into current content and community discussions around the future of Classic servers. This is the Classic slot.
- Diablo IV & Diablo Immortal: upcoming season previews and expansion showcases.
- Overwatch & Hearthstone: developer panels and community tournaments.
- Esports: WoW Arena World Championship (AWC) and Mythic Dungeon International (MDI) world finals, Blizzard Classic Cup (classic gameplay competition), Overwatch World Cup, Hearthstone Masters Tour.
- Community: Community Night and Darkmoon Faire floor experiences — cosplay contest, talent competition, interactive Faire — listed as core highlights.
The Classic Cup is the tell. It is the only esports slot that is explicitly Classic gameplay. Its placement on the schedule is a proxy for how much stage time Classic gets after Midnight's story beat (The Venomous Abyss eight-boss raid and Season 2 already have their slots).
Drop window
The Sep 1 "Get the Drop on New Rewards During BlizzCon 2026" post sets the window: watch any eligible World of Warcraft stream on Twitch or on the official World of Warcraft YouTube channel from September 12 at 9:30 AM PDT until September 13 at 7:00 PM PDT to claim a bucket of rewards. Sep 12 09:30 PDT is 16:30 UTC, Sep 13 19:00 PDT is Sep 14 02:00 UTC. Historically that means a pet, a toy, a transmog set and a title spread across watch-time tiers, sometimes a mount. Link Battle.net to Twitch and to YouTube before the window opens; drops do not retro grant for time watched while unlinked. Starter Edition is enough for most buckets.
What Classic players watch for
Three things to have open alongside the stream:
- The Classic+ tracker — count-up is live for Sep 12, 69704 ticked Sep 5 (news post). Daily watch continues into show week.
- Our BlizzCon preview and BlizzCon watch guide — the Classic+ vs retail roadmap and the practical checklist.
- Your own realm choice. If you are on any of the 108 tracked servers and you are deciding whether to stay or go when the stage ends, watch the badge, not the trailer. A permanent Classic+ lane and a seasonal lane are different commitments, and Blizzard has not said which Camelot is.
That is the schedule as of Sep 1. Programming times per hall, floor map per hall, and the detailed broadcast order will be posted by Blizzard in the week leading up. Until then, mark Sep 11 for badge pickup if you are going, Sep 12 09:30 PDT if you are watching, and the main stage if you care about Classic.
We will be live-posting the Classic segment as it happens and updating the tracker with whatever leaves the stage as fact rather than leak. Until then: build 69704 and a floor map.